Portable fan



Jan. 6, 1942. D.,P. CARLTON 2,268,801

v1 oRTABLr FAN Filed Nov. 26, 1958 Patented Jan. 6, 1942 l UNITED STATE s PATENT OFFICE The present invention is directed to an electric fan for household use. More particularly, it is directed to a portable fan which is so constructed as to be adapted for use in a manner such as to create a current of air in a room similar to that produced by the known attic fans.

Since air conditioning has become so popular, a multitude of portable fans of various design have appeared on the market. Most of these fans are adapted to be set inside a room andserve merely to stir up and circulate the air in the room. Some fans have been designed to pull in outside air into a room, but these are all of the type which is built into the window frames. Since such fans are not portable, their use is limited.

According to the present invention, a cheap substitute for air-conditioning is provided in the form of a portable fan which can be placed against the screen of any window or against a, screen door in such a way as to cause outside air to flow into the room. More specifically, the fan of the present invention is so constructed as to seal, against the screen of a window or door and to draw air in from the outside.

Further novel features and advantages of the fan ofv the present invention will appear from the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the fan of the present inven,

tion, Fig. 2 is a rear view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3

is a. side view of Fig. 1 with the casing sectioned along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing 1n detail. numeral l designates a casing which is preferably frustoconical in shape with its small end at its fro'nt. Both ends of the casing are open. The small end is covered by a rough screen 2 for safety purposes. The edge of the rear end is provided with a rim l of soft material, such as felt, sponge rubber, or the like. It may be advantageous to make this rim of hair bristles or hair matting;

The rim of soft material is held in place by a metal band 5 which is secured tocasing l.

The base 6 of the casing is atso as to rest onl a windowsill 1. Preferably, the rear of the base is provided with an offset portion 8 which is adapted to rest on the frame 9 of the screen.

A fan l0 is driven by a motor ll carried by a standard I2 which is secured to the base. The standard is so formed that the motor is held somewhat to the rear of the center of the casing so as to fix the center of gravity of the entire assembly to the rear of its geometrical center. This arrangement aids in holding the casing are so formed as to force air toward the front l of the casingand into the room. The casing is so as to provide for a number of fan speeds.

In use, the fan is placed so that the rim 4 is sealed against the screen I3. For this reason, all of the air forced into the room by the fan must come from outside the screen. 'I'he air in the -room cannot get behind the fan without rst passing through the screen and mixing with outside air. 'I'his is an extremely important feature. While otherl portable fans may be placed on a windowsilL they usually do nothing but circulate the air in the room because the windowscreen itself appears to offer4 suilicient resistance to the entry of outside air to make it easier for room air to get behind the fan than for outside air to come in. The sealing rim on the fan of the present invention reverses this l condition5 .making it easier for the outside air to reach the rear of the fan than for the room air. As a result, the fan of the present invention has a much greater cooling effect in a room than would any conventional fan placed on the windowsill in the same manner but without the sealing means.

Moreover, the fan of the present invention, as -distinguished from conventional portable fans, has an ejection effect.` The stream of air of high velocity leaving the small air discharge end of the fan inside the room creates a low pressure -area around the casing of the fan, thereby sucking outside air in. For this reason, when the fan is in use, it is advisable to provide a second opening somewhat remote from the opening where the fan is placed for the discharge of stale air from the room or rooms to be cooled.

It will bev understood that the present invention is not limited in any way to the size or shape of the casing or of any of the parts of the assembly. In essence. it consists of an open ended casing having one of its ends provided with .means for sealing against a screen and having mounted within it a fan adapted to force air to- .ward the other open end, said fan being prefersealed against the screen. The blades of the fan u ably so placed as to fix the center of gravity of the assembly to the rear of the geometrical center thereof. It is to this general assembly, without regard to specic details of construction that the appended claims are directed.

I claim: 1. A portable fan adapted to be used in conjunction with a screened opening comprising a substantially flat base adapted to rest on a windowsill, a standard mounted on the upper surface of said base, a motor carried by said standard, a fan carried by the shaft of the motor, having blades adapted to force a current of air forwardly with respect to said base, said standard being inclined rearwardly to such an extent as to place the center of gravity of the assembly to the rear of the geometrical center thereof to thereby press the assembly toward the screen, an open ended casing carried by said base and surrounding said fan, and means carried by the edge of the rear open end of said casing adapted to seal against a screen.

2. A portable fan adapted to be used in con- `iunction with a screened opening comprising an open ended imperforate casing, a peripheral strip of yieldable material arranged on the edge of one open end oi' said casing, said strip being o1' such dimensions as to protrude rearwardly of said edge and form a seal against the screen for said entire open end and a fan mounted within said casing having blades adapted to force air toward the other open end of said casing.

DAVE P. CARLTON. 

